Smaller dorms might help community life

The high rises may be replaced by more intimate residences as part of a collegiate planning initiative. The high rises are not conducive to the development of the 21st Century Project's residential collegiate programs, administrators and faculty said this week. "[High rises] do not tend to foster community, and in their own formal character they're alienating," Historic Preservation and Urban Studies Professor George Thomas said. Last week, University President Judith Rodin announced the University was considering the destruction of the high rises and building new dormitories on the north end of campus to replace them. Housing and Residence Life Acting Director Chris Dennis said smaller dormitories better serve the collegiate programs the University is considering. "Smaller communities function in better ways than large monolithic structures," Dennis said. According to Thomas, the University has three options for the Superblock area. In one version, the high rises could be renovated into "vertical houses," grouping four stories together. Option two involves filling the currently open area of Superblock with low rises and retail space. The third option is demolishing the buildings, Thomas said. The University has discussed the possibility of gutting the high rises as opposed to demolishing the structures, Senior Manager of Residential Operations Gordon Rickards said. But a price tag for that type of project has not been calculated, he added. It isn't complicated to implode a high rise in an urban neighborhood, Thomas said. Timed charges would blow up the center pillars of a high rise, causing the building to collapse toward the basement. Plans for new residences will likely include town houses, apartment houses and family homes, Rodin said. The University has to have a variety of housing options including two-to-five story residences, according to City and Regional Planning Chairperson Anthony Tomazinis. "[Low-level buildings] will occupy more space of course, but they will be more workable, more homey," Tomazinis said. But administrators need to consult with students to evaluate what they want for their residences, Thomas added. "The question they have to think through is if undergraduates want the Quad experience or the intimate Pine Street experience but with a closed-off street," Thomas added. Compared to freshmen and sophomores, few upperclassman live on campus. "It's a brain drain that has a detrimental affect on our communities," Dennis said. With the development of collegiate residences, administrators hope more upperclassmen will live in University dormitories. While the facilities plan is feasible from a technical standpoint, the University must be able to justify the considerable cost of the improvements to residences, Tomazinis said. "The idea is to maximize our options in terms of building types and location so we have as many different options that we can on the table," Dennis said. Before the high rises were constructed, the Superblock area contained a mix of two-level Victorian houses and 20th century "arts and crafts" buildings, according to Thomas. When discussing plans for Superblock in the 1960s, administrators looked at proposals that included town houses and apartment homes, Thomas said. "In a sense, [the high rises] have always been a compromise," he added.

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